Gum removal tool

ABSTRACT

A gum removal tool&#39;s open-ended housing defines a chamber. A turbo nozzle is mounted in the chamber with its output end facing the open end of the housing. A high-pressure water supply can be coupled to the turbo nozzle. The open end of the housing has structures/devices coupled thereto for supporting movement of the housing on a surface as well as movement of air therethrough.

ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119, the benefit of priority from provisional application 61/068,775, with a filing date of Mar. 10, 2008, is claimed for this non-provisional application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to pressure washing tools, and more particularly to a pressure washing tool used with a pressure washing system to facilitate gum removal from a hard surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The cleaning of hard surfaces (e.g., concrete, asphalt, aggregate, etc.) is an issue for cities/municipalities, businesses, and the military. Cities/municipalities need to clean their streets, sidewalks and parking lots. Businesses need to clean their hard-floor warehouses and factories, as well as their sidewalks and parking lots. The military needs to maintain the cleanliness of its posts/bases, to include airstrips and tarmacs.

Over time, all of the above-noted surfaces get stained from a variety of natural and man-made substances. Most of the man-made substances are dried liquids that drip or are spilled onto one of the surfaces. For example, engine/transmission oil, gasoline and anti-freeze top the list of vehicle “droppings” that stain a hard surface. Spills of these and other products (e.g., paints, chemicals, food, drinks, etc.) add to the staining of a surface. The cleaning of dried-liquid stains from a hard surface has improved in recent years with the development of a variety of pressure cleaning and wastewater reclamation systems.

However, there remains one type of surface “stain” that modern cleaning apparatus cannot clean/remove. Specifically, gum and gum-like materials dropped, pressed and dried/hardened on a hard surface survive conventional hard-surface cleaning. Further, after a hard surface is cleaned, the remaining dark blotches of hardened gum or gum-like materials are highlighted as blights on the freshly-cleaned surface.

Conventional approaches for removing gum or gum-like materials from a hard surface involve some type of manual or mechanized scraping. However, this is labor intensive and not completely effective since most hard surfaces have some degree of texture that greatly increases the amount of surface area to which the gum material can adhere. As a result, scraping of a dried gum or gum-like material “blotch” tends to only remove a top layer of the gum while leaving the rest of the gum embedded in the surface texture. The remaining embedded gum quickly darkens and again appears as a stain on the surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that completely removes gum or gum-like material blotches from a hard surface.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a gum removal apparatus that can be used with existing surface cleaning systems.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a gum removal apparatus that is easily maneuvered by an operator on a surface to be cleaned.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.

In accordance with the present invention, a gum removal tool includes a rigid housing having an open end. The housing defines a chamber. A turbo nozzle is mounted in the chamber with its output end facing the open end of the housing. A high-pressure water supply can be coupled to the turbo nozzle. The open end of the housing has structures/devices coupled thereto for supporting movement of the housing on a surface as well as movement of air therethrough.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reference to the following description of the preferred embodiments and to the drawings, wherein corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a part schematic, part cross-sectional view of a gum removal tool in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side view of a gum removal tool in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, a gum removal tool in accordance with the present invention is shown and is referenced generally by numeral 10. Gum removal tool 10 is illustrated partly in cross-section and partly in a schematic fashion in order to clearly depict the important novel features of the present invention. As will be explained further below, gum removal tool 10 is designed to operate using (i) a supply of hot water at high pressure, and (ii) a vacuum. Accordingly, a high-pressure hot water source 100 and vacuum source 102 are illustrated as cooperating with tool 10. It is to be understood that sources 100 and 102 can be independent of one another or can be combined in a “cleaning system” without departing from the scope of the present invention. That is, the particular type of nature of sources 100 and 102 are not limitations of the present invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that gum removal tool 10 can, but need not, include sources 100 and 102 and the controls therefor.

Gum removal tool 10 has a rigid outer housing 12 that defines an interior chamber 14 terminating at an open end 12A of housing 12 where open end 12A defines an annular perimeter of housing 12. Rigidly suspended within chamber 14 is a turbo nozzle 16 capable of generating a rotating conical spray of high-pressure water where the conical spray is referenced by dashed lines 18 and the rotational aspect of the spray is referenced by rotational arrow 20. In terms of the present invention, turbo nozzle 16 should be capable of delivering at least approximately 4 gallons per minute (GPM) at a pressure between approximately 3000-4000 pounds per square inch (PSI). Further, turbo nozzle 16 should be capable of handling high-temperature water (e.g., possibly up to 200° F.). A variety of such turbo nozzles are available commercially.

Turbo nozzle 16 is suspended vertically within chamber 14 such that its output face 16A opposes and is spaced-apart from a surface 200 with output face 16A being approximately parallel to surface 200 when gum removal tool 10 is placed on surface 200. The vertical suspension of turbo nozzle 16 in chamber 14 is typically accomplished by a rigid water supply line 22 affixed to housing 12 and coupled to turbo nozzle 16. Supply line 22 is rigidly supported by housing 12 and terminates outside housing 12 in a coupling 24 to which high-pressure hot water source 100 is coupled.

Housing 12 is also provided with a port 26 to which vacuum source 102 can be coupled. As will be explained further below, water source 100 and vacuum source 102 will be operated simultaneously when using gum removal tool 10. Accordingly, vacuum port 26 should be positioned such that conical spray 18 (output from turbo nozzle 16) is not disturbed by the vacuum. To assure this, vacuum port 26 is typically positioned at a location that is above output face 16A of turbo nozzle 16 when gum removal tool 10 is placed on surface 200.

Mounted to the bottom open end 12A of housing 12 is a transport and vacuum throughput system 28 that provides a variety of functions for gum removal tool 10. System 28 provides a stable support for housing 12 and the various components mounted thereto where such stability is needed due to the high-pressure water provided to tool 10. In addition, system 28 facilitates movement of tool 10 on surface 200 since a typical gum cleaning operation will require continual re-positioning of tool 10 to gummed areas of surface 200. Still further, system 28 forms an extension of interior chamber 14 while providing for the passage of air (i.e., from outside of housing 12 into chamber 14) when vacuum source 102 applies vacuum pressure to vacuum port 26. Finally, system 28 must provide all of the above functions while being able to withstand long-term use and movement on rough textured surfaces such as surface 200.

In general, when a gum blotch 202 is to be cleaned from surface 200, gum removal tool 10 is positioned such that transport and vacuum throughput system 28 rests on surface 200 over gum blotch 202. As mentioned above, sources 100 and 102 are operated simultaneously. The combined heat/pressure of conical spray 18 along with the application of vacuum to chamber 14 causes gum blotch 202 to release from surface 200. The simultaneously-applied vacuum exhausts the wastewater and loosened gum blotch 202 from chamber 14.

The simultaneous operation of sources 100 and 102 can be achieved in a variety of ways without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, if vacuum source 102 is to be left on continuously during a cleaning operation, a trigger controller 104 (e.g., a trigger gun as it is known) could be coupled to just source 100 to generate a single, user-controlled on-demand trigger signal 106 used to activate source 100 once gun removal tool 10 was in place. However, the present invention is not so limited as trigger controller 104 can be one or more of a variety of controllers that can cause the simultaneous on-demand operation of both sources 100 and 102 where the simultaneous operation of source 102 is indicated by a dashed signal line. Since high-pressure water delivery (and, optionally, vacuum) is controlled in an on-demand fashion, a user can easily manipulate and position gum removal tool 10 on surface 200 and then activate it only after proper positioning of tool 10. In tests of the present invention, it has been found that gum removal tool 10 need only be on-site over a gum blotch for 1-2 seconds to remove most gum blotches. Thus, gum removal tool 10 generates a minimal amount of wastewater during the use thereof.

By way of example, a specific embodiment of the gum removal tool of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 2 and is referenced generally by numeral 50. Gum removal tool 50 has a rigid two-piece housing 52 defined by an open-tube cylindrical portion 52A and a cap 52B attachable to cylindrical portion 52A in a sealed fashion by, for example, threads 52C. While the exact dimensions of housing 52 are not limitations of the present invention, the inner diameter thereof is typically 3-4 inches so that tool 50 can cover the outer boundaries of most gum blotches, yet be small enough to focus the simultaneously-applied conical spray and vacuum to a gum blotch. Further, the relatively small size of housing 52 facilitates the manipulation of tool 50 by an operator.

Housing 52 defines an interior chamber 54 in which a turbo nozzle 56 is centrally suspended therein. Turbo nozzle 56 is similar to turbo nozzle 16 described above in that turbo nozzle 56 outputs a conical spray 18 that rotates about the center line of the conical spray as indicated by rotational arrow 20. Turbo nozzle 56 is suspended in chamber 54 by a rigid water supply line 22 that attaches to a high-pressure coupling 60 mounted in cap 52B. Attached to the other end of coupling 60 is a high-pressure swivel coupling 62 that can rotate in at least two dimensions as indicated by rotational arrow 64 while providing for the flow of high-pressure fluid therethrough. Typically, swivel coupling 62 defines a first conduit 62A coupled to coupling 60, a swiveling conduit 62B coupled to conduit 62A, and a second conduit 62C coupled to swiveling conduit 62B such that second conduit 62C can pivot as indicated by directional arrow 64. Swivel coupling 62 can include the means (not shown) to fix the position of swiveling conduit 62B if desired. Coupled to swivel coupling 62 is an in-line filter 66 that removes debris from the high-pressure water supplied by source 100 coupled to filter 66. Since an operator usually holds a water supply line (not shown) that connects source 100 to filter 66, swivel coupling 62 simplifies manipulation of tool 50 as the angle of the water supply line can be adjusted for user comfort.

A vacuum port 68 is formed integrally with cylindrical portion 52A of housing 52. Similar to vacuum port 26 (FIG. 1) described above, vacuum port 68 is located above the output face of turbo nozzle 56. In the illustrated embodiment, vacuum port 68 is a rigid cylindrical sleeve extending radially out from cylindrical portion 52A to provide a mounting point for a hose (not shown) leading to vacuum source 102.

The above-described transport and vacuum throughput system 28 (FIG. 1) for tool 50 is provided by (i) an annular plate 70 disposed about and coupled to cylindrical portion 52A, (ii) a plurality (i.e., two or more) of vertically-adjustable, swiveling wheels 72 coupled to plate 70, and (iii) a curtain that is porous with respect to air (e.g., an annular brush 74, or any other flexible curtain-like structure through which air can pass) and that is coupled to the annular end of cylindrical portion 52A that is in axial opposition to cap 52B.

Plate 70 is rigidly coupled to housing 52 and defines a mounting platform for swiveling wheels 72. That is, tool 50 is made stable by radially displacing swiveling wheels 72 away from housing 52 as provided by plate 70. The swiveling feature of wheels 72 facilitates the movement of tool 50 on surface 200. Plate 70 and wheels 72 can be disposed about housing 52 in a variety of geometric configurations (e.g., triangle, square, circle, etc.) without departing from the scope of the present invention. Plate 70 and each of swiveling wheels 72 are typically configured for vertical adjustment relative to plate 70 as indicated by two-headed arrow 71. The particular construction of plate 70 and/or wheels 72 for achieving vertical adjustment 71 are not limitations of the present invention. Further, plate 70 could be replaced by individual support arms extending radially out from housing 52 without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Annular brush 74 is typically constructed from a plurality of bristles that essentially define an annular porous “curtain”. Annular brush 74 forms an extension of cylindrical portion 52A for contact with surface 200 when placed thereon. To assure such contact, the vertical height of swivel wheels 72 is adjusted so that the bottom of the bristles defining brush 74 rest on surface 200. Brush 74 allows tool 50 to be readily moved about surface 200 since it will flex as tool 50 is moved. Further, the porous nature of brush 74 defines an annular entry for air to flow into chamber 54 when vacuum source 102 is activated. Still further, brush 74 acts as a filter to keep outside debris from entering chamber 54 when vacuum source 102 is activated. As the bristles of brush 74 wear down, wheels 72 can be adjusted vertically to maintain sufficient contact between the bottom of brush 74 and surface 200.

The advantages of the present invention are numerous. The gum removal tool greatly simplifies the removal of gum blotches from hard surfaces even when the hard surfaces are rough. The tool is readily attached to existing pressure washing systems. The tool removes all of a gum blotch without any scraping and simultaneously removes the wastewater generated during the gum removal. The tool is completely effective in a very brief period of time thereby minimizing the use of water and generation of wastewater.

Although the invention has been described relative to specific embodiments thereof, there are numerous variations and modifications that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. For example, while the gum removal tool of the present invention can be used as a stand alone device/system as described herein, it could also be incorporated into a larger head or deck associated with a conventional surface cleaning system. In such cases, the gum removal tool's housing and its supported turbo nozzle could be incorporated into the larger head/deck. High-pressure water could be supplied to the turbo nozzle on an “as needed” basis as the larger head/deck was maneuvered over a surface to be cleaned. The larger head/deck would serve as the afore-described transport and vacuum throughput system 28 (FIG. 1). A vacuum port 26 (FIG. 1) could be provided in the tool's housing as described above. Alternatively, the housing's vacuum port could be eliminated if vacuum features of the larger head/deck can be utilized to retrieve the wastewater generated by the gum removal operation. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described. 

1. A gum removal tool, comprising: a rigid housing having an open end, said housing defining a chamber; a turbo nozzle having an output end, said turbo nozzle mounted in said chamber with said output end facing said open end of said housing, said turbo nozzle adapted to have a high-pressure water supply coupled thereto; and means coupled to said housing at said open end for supporting movement of said housing on a surface and movement of air therethrough.
 2. A gum removal tool as in claim 1, further comprising a port formed in a wall of said housing, said port being adapted to have a vacuum source coupled thereto wherein, when said gum removal tool is supported by said means on the surface, said port is further from the surface than said output end of said turbo nozzle.
 3. A gum removal tool as in claim 1, wherein said means comprises: a plurality of wheels coupled to said housing; and a porous curtain coupled to said housing at said open end thereof.
 4. A gum removal tool as in claim 3, wherein said porous curtain comprises a brush made from a plurality of bristles.
 5. A gum removal tool as in claim 3, wherein each of said wheels is a swiveling wheel.
 6. A gum removal tool as in claim 3, wherein each of said wheels is adjustable in position with respect to said open end of said housing.
 7. A gum removal tool as in claim 1, further comprising a swiveling high-pressure fluid coupling assembly coupled to said turbo nozzle and adapted to have the high-pressure water supply coupled thereto, said assembly maintained outside of said housing.
 8. A gum removal tool as in claim 1, wherein said turbo nozzle has a water delivery rate capability of at least approximately 4 gallons per minute at a delivery pressure in the range of approximately 3000-4000 pounds per square inch for water temperatures up to approximately 200° F.
 9. A gum removal tool, comprising: a rigid housing having an annular open end, said housing defining a chamber, said housing further having a port formed in a wall thereof, said port being adapted to have a vacuum source coupled thereto; a turbo nozzle having an output end, said turbo nozzle mounted in said chamber with said output end thereof opposing said annular open end of said housing, said turbo nozzle adapted to have a high-pressure water supply coupled thereto; a plurality of wheels coupled to said housing, said wheels adapted to support movement of said housing on a surface; a porous curtain coupled to said housing at said annular open end thereof for supporting movement of air therethrough, said porous curtain adapted to contact the surface as said wheels move on the surface; and said port being further from the surface than said output end of said turbo nozzle when said wheels and said porous curtain are on the surface.
 10. A gum removal tool as in claim 9, wherein said porous curtain comprises a brush made from a plurality of bristles.
 11. A gum removal tool as in claim 9, wherein each of said wheels is a swiveling wheel.
 12. A gum removal tool as in claim 9, further comprising a swiveling high-pressure fluid coupling assembly coupled to said turbo nozzle and adapted to have the high-pressure water supply coupled thereto, said assembly maintained outside of said housing.
 13. A gum removal tool as in claim 9, wherein said turbo nozzle has a water delivery rate capability of at least approximately 4 gallons per minute at a delivery pressure in the range of approximately 3000-4000 pounds per square inch for water temperatures up to approximately 200° F.
 14. A gum removal tool, comprising: a rigid housing having an open end, said housing defining a chamber, said housing further having a port formed in a wall thereof; a vacuum source coupled to said port; a turbo nozzle having an output end, said turbo nozzle mounted in said chamber with said output end facing said open end of said housing; a high-pressure water supply coupled to said turbo nozzle; means coupled to said housing at said open end for supporting movement of said housing on a surface and movement of air therethrough; and a controller coupled to said vacuum source and said water supply for controlling simultaneous activation and de-activation of said vacuum source and said water supply.
 15. A gum removal tool as in claim 14 wherein, when said gum removal tool is supported by said means on the surface, said port is further from the surface than said output end of said turbo nozzle.
 16. A gum removal tool as in claim 14, wherein said means comprises: a plurality of wheels coupled to said housing; and a porous curtain coupled to said housing at said open end thereof.
 17. A gum removal tool as in claim 16, wherein said porous curtain comprises a brush made from a plurality of bristles.
 18. A gum removal tool as in claim 16, wherein each of said wheels is a swiveling wheel.
 19. A gum removal tool as in claim 14, further comprising a swiveling high-pressure fluid coupling assembly coupled between said turbo nozzle and said water supply, said assembly maintained outside of said housing.
 20. A gum removal tool as in claim 14, wherein said turbo nozzle has a water delivery rate capability of at least approximately 4 gallons per minute at a delivery pressure in the range of approximately 3000-4000 pounds per square inch for water temperatures up to approximately 200° F. 